September 5, 2023 • 51 mins
Brace yourselves as we ride untamed waves with legendary surfer, Garrett McNamara, as we unravel the intricate bond between surfing and fatherhood.
Garrett is best known as one of the most prolific big wave surfers in the history of surfing, having surfed some of the largest waves on earth, including a 78-foot wave - a world record at the time.
Delving deeper into McNamara's life, we explore his spiritual connection to surfing, and how it's driven his life and career, helping him maintain his enthusiasm over decades of chasing the world's biggest waves. We discover how his approach to the sport evolved, and reflect on the importance of finding equilibrium between our passions and family responsibilities - a challenge we can all relate to.
We discuss a wealth of topics, including McNamara's unique upbringing, the influence of his parents on his parenting style, his environmental advocacy initiatives, and his commitment towards sustainable living and making a difference beyond the waves.
Through it all, McNamara's incredible journey from a childhood filled with uncertainty to becoming an eight-time world record holder and a passionate father, re-emphasizes the indomitable spirit of human resilience, love, and dedication. Tune in, whether you're a surfer, a father, or just someone seeking to grow as a human - this conversation promises to inspire and enlighten.
More Resources:
- www.garrettmcnamara.com
- Garrett's Instagram
- "100 Foot Wave" HBO Series
- "100 Foot Wave" Podcast
- Garrett's World Record Wave
- "The Glacier Project" Trailer
- Garrett Surfing Peahi "Jaws"
- Garrett Surfing "Wipeout of a lifetime" at Mavericks
The Athlete Dad Resources:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Through surfing I can pretty much do anything.
But it's like what do we do?
Who do we work with?
How do we make a difference?
How do we give back in the bestway humanly possible?
Or is it just focusing on thekids, focusing on being a good
father, raising children thatare good contributors?
I think it's a balance.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
This is the Athlete Dad Podcast, where we explore
the intersection betweenphysical pursuits and fatherhood
.
I'm Ben Gibson, and if you'rean ambitious dad that is
pursuing or looking to pursueyour athletic passions now while
improving the way you show upat home, then this is a show for
you.
In the sport of surfing, thereare surfers, and then there are
(00:57):
big wave surfers.
Big wave surfers are a totallydifferent breed of human doing a
totally different version ofthe sport.
The ocean can be a reallyterrifying place, especially
when you're sitting amongstgiant swell and waves.
That can remind you exactly howpowerless you can be when going
(01:19):
up against something like theocean and just how easily it can
push you around.
In fact, very few people haveeven witnessed what big wave
surfers would consider to be abig wave or a good swell.
Take, for example, there's thiscontest, eddie I Cow, big Wave
Infantational, where they won'teven run the contest unless the
(01:39):
waves are consistently 20 feettall, which is crazy, until you
find out that places like JAWS,mavericks and a special wave off
the coast of a small village ofNazare in Portugal are surfed
with waves that reach anywherefrom 30 to more than 80 feet
tall.
80 feet, that's the equivalentto surfing an eight-story
(02:02):
building that's moving 60 to 80miles per hour.
That's a speed where a wipeoutsees a body skipping across the
water like a pebble across alake.
These waves are heavy, big,fast and they are deadly.
I give you all that contextbecause you'll need it to fully
understand how epic the pursuitsof today's guest, garrett
(02:26):
McNamara, are and to fullyappreciate that when Garrett
talks about the challenges offatherhood, it's spoken by
someone who has personallyridden a 78-foot wave.
There's this quote circulatingthe internet right now that says
parenting is only hard for goodparents, essentially saying
that it's hard because you'rereally working to show up as a
(02:51):
great parent, as a great dad,and that quote, I think, really
summarizes a lot of myconversation with Garrett.
Being a great dad, or at leasttrying to be, is really damn
hard sometimes.
I think it's not often that menand dads we get to have this
very real conversation aroundhow challenging it can be, and
(03:11):
that's one of the things that Ireally appreciated about my
conversation with Garrett isjust the authenticity in which
he spoke about these challenges.
Now, garrett is aninternational big wave explorer
known for discovering andpioneering the biggest wave in
the world at Nazaré, portugal.
You may already know Garrettfrom the HBO series 100-Foot
(03:32):
Wave or from the other endeavorsthat Garrett has pursued as a
big wave surfer.
He is an eight-time worldrecord holder for the largest
wave ever surfed and he's partof the only team to have ever
surfed waves generated by a300-foot calving glacier in
Alaska.
Most importantly, he and hiswife, nicole and their family
(03:53):
are on a mission to share theimportance of connecting to
nature.
I had a chance to catch up withGarrett from his home in Nazaré,
portugal, and we talked a lotabout those hard things and how
to try to approach them with asense of gratitude and choice.
We talked about how surfing hascompletely influenced the life
(04:13):
that he lives and the way thathe shows up as a dad.
We've explored the idea ofpurpose and meaning, and often
we come up with more questionsthan answers.
It's a very real, authentic andmeaningful conversation and I'm
just really grateful thatGarrett and his family, nicole
and the kids, were able tosqueeze us in and share some of
(04:34):
the wisdom with us.
Now we do talk about somespecific waves and breaks, so
I'll add them to the show notesso you have some visual context
for these incredible places thatwe talk about, but I really
think that you're going toappreciate and love this
conversation.
Without further ado, pleaseenjoy my conversation with the
father, husband and man who alsohappens to be a legendary big
(04:56):
wave surfer, mr Garrett McNamara.
Garrett, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast today.
I am so grateful for your time.
It's so grateful to have youhere.
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And anything to share about being a father, I mean,
and I'm really looking forwardto learn anything that you can
share with me as well how tobalance things.
It's all about balance and Ican do pretty well on the board,
but it's very challenging inlife on the land.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, Isn't that interesting how much easier it
is to just go balance on an80-foot wave.
But then we come home and it'slike, wow, this is way harder.
So yeah, I'm super pumped and Ithink, to sort of set the
context I'd love to hear aboutwhat does dad life look for you
right now?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, we've been moving around a lot.
We've been traveling a lot.
At home in Hawaii it was get upin the morning, get breakfast
ready for the kids and then getThaya to her school, get Faye
from Nicole so Faye Nicole cansleep, and then take Barrel to
do something after I've droppedoff Thaya.
(06:10):
Ideally we go surfing.
I either take him on the jetski and tow surf or take him to
a surf spot and with Fayesometimes it's going to be a
little more challenging becauseif there's waves, Nicole and
Grandma and Papa all three don'twant Faye on the jet ski when
there's waves and I mean, yeah,it's a little dangerous, but if
(06:32):
it's really small and she has alife jacket on, I feel pretty
confident.
But even then.
So I have to leave her behindand take Barrel out.
She's screaming and she wantsto come on the jet ski and
somebody has to grab her.
And then me and Barrel go halfthe time of our life I put him
on 50 waves in an hour and thenwe come back and then he likes
to go fishing and we can takeFaye on the fishing missions.
(06:56):
But you know, a lot of days thewaves aren't ideal and it's not
good to tow or paddle, and inHawaii I get pulled into the art
.
I really love trying to finisheverything.
I want everything to befinished so that way I can fully
enjoy it, but I think there'llalways be something, so I just
have to really enjoy it whileI'm there.
(07:17):
I leave for three months, Ileave for six months.
Everything's fine, theproperty's fine, whether it's
finished or not.
I come home and I just work inthe yard and play with the kids,
and I think I need to be alittle more present with Nicole
and the kids when I'm not doingwhat I really enjoy doing with
them, when we're doing somethingthat's more, you know, not
(07:40):
quite as fun.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, I hear that I think the presence is the
hardest thing and I liked whatyou said in the beginning of you
know here to learn I thinkthat's really the goal of the
podcast is, like you know, Ibelieve people change for either
inspiration or desperation, andI was really in a moment of
desperation because I was reallystruggling with balance.
I was pursuing my dreams but itcame at the expense of my family
(08:03):
and family time, and so youknow, I think that you know the
best we can really do is just beaware of where we might not be
showing up the way that we wantto show up.
And I hear you on the presentside, I struggle with that too.
You know I just got back from aclimb in Alaska and I feel like
I haven't really been my fullpresent self for a month even
(08:24):
after coming back.
You know how do you feel thatstruggle is for you when you are
, especially when you're goingafter these really big,
audacious goals, or you've justgot back from traveling, like.
Like, tell me about presenceand where it may be challenging
for you in your life.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
One thing that really keeps me from being present is
the phone, and we go so far asto only have one phone.
We have a bat phone that incase one of us is going to go
somewhere.
We have another phone that weactivate when we need to and we
had it off forever and it wasnice because one of us is always
present when the phones areboth on and then I get sucked in
(09:02):
to look at a server report orsucked in to check in an email
or a text or a phone call or orInstagram.
The phone is probably thebiggest distraction and the
hardest thing to balance.
Like you just stuck is like thephone is definitely not the
Android.
We are the androids now becausethis is it, and I find myself
that I was watching the seriesand I'm like this.
(09:25):
Half the time I was like, oh,I'm telling the camera and don't
feel me when I'm on the phoneand he's filming.
It was the only time I get madand the only thing I don't want
him filming is when I'm on thephone.
So I'm working on being morepresent.
The thing is to work on reallyenjoying and really loving all
the situations we choose to bein and if we're in the situation
(09:49):
, love it.
But it's a really challengingconcept.
I'm working on it.
I'm working on okay.
When I'm just sitting therewith Faye and she wants to go do
this or that and I want to bedoing something else and I have
to say Okay, do I have a choiceto be no?
No choice is where I have to beOkay.
So love this fully and bepresent and have fun.
And that concept is.
It's amazing.
(10:10):
It's the most beautiful conceptand one of the most challenging
, but it's realistic.
We all have the choice to loveall of the situations we get
into, whether it's a challengingone or not.
We can choose to love it or wecan choose to get angry and, for
lack of a better word, makeourselves toxic and not fun to
be around and lower ourvibration and show up with this
(10:32):
funky vibration that everybodyfeels and then the room changes
and everybody changes.
It's all about our vibration,balance and vibrations.
So, if we can balance thethings we love to do and the
things that are challenging andno matter what, whether we love
it or we feel it's challengingshow up with this positive, good
vibration.
If I'm happy and I'm doingthings that I like doing, I got
(10:54):
the good vibration, but if I'mdoing things that I prefer not
to be doing, I can tend to lowermy vibration and it ruins the
room Everybody changes everybodyin the room, everybody
encounter everywhere you go.
You just I think of some people.
They can easily change thevibration of a room by showing
up with a good or bad vibration.
(11:16):
Other people might just kind ofnavigate the room no matter
what vibration there are in, andcertain people show up in the
whole room changes for business.
It's like so important to showup with a good vibration again.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I love what you said about choice.
You know, like remindingourselves that we're we can
choose how we want to show up.
We can choose, or I at leastremember that we chose this
moment.
We chose, you know, these hardthings and that's always my
preference too is a verystubborn individual, if I can
frame it that way, and I reallylike how you said it.
But it's like, you know, I'mgonna choose my heart and I have
chosen this hard, so I'm gonnaenjoy this hard when you choose
(11:51):
it and enjoy it, then it'samazing, but if you don't, then
it just talks it.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
For you and everybody around you.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, that idea of, like you said, changing the room
.
A friend of mine always saidthat you know you can either be
a thermometer or a thermostatwhen you show up for your family
, so you're either just therematching the temperature of the
room.
So you know, I think about itin the context of like you come
and there's chaos and you'rejust like matching the chaos.
You come and you're like what'sgoing?
(12:21):
on okay everybody chill out,like to stop doing that, get
down, or you can be thethermostat right where you're
like, okay, I'm reading the room.
I need to bring a little bitmore positive energy to here,
let me.
Let me lower the temperaturehere a bit, bring a little bit
more fun.
And I, like you said the highpositive frequency, let me bring
that to the equation.
And I think about that in termsof when I'm making transitions,
(12:43):
because I noticed that Iwouldn't be present coming out
of transitions.
I come home from work, right,come back from training or a
climb or anything, and I have tobe very conscious about this
idea of I'm gonna landdeliberately in this moment and
choose how I'm gonna have myfeet touch the ground, and I
think just that alone has beenso helpful in this idea talked
(13:04):
about of Choosing the moment,however it may be good or bad,
difficult, easy but also theidea of choosing what kind of
vibrations, what kind of energyam I bringing to this Moment
here, and of course, it's wayeasier said than done, but like
that's the practice that I'm,I'm trying to be more conscious
about.
Yeah, definitely going in theright direction.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, in a good way.
I like to say do it in a goodway.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, yeah, I love that you you had said something
one time.
I think it was like surf forthe right reasons, and I I
thought about that in terms of,like, how you show up in life,
like doing it for the rightreasons, do it the right way.
I think that that's probablysomething that I imagine is come
from surfing and influence life.
Like you know, you've you'vespent your career surfing.
(13:50):
What are the ways in which youthink that surfing has
influenced the way that you'veshown up as a dad?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It would influence me to get in the water with the
kids and share the ocean and getthem excited about, you know,
being in the ocean and fishingand I'm not much of a fisherman
but I support my son fishing andsurfing and diving and it is
such a selfish sport and we gochase waves because we love to
(14:19):
and you know we spend all ourmoney half the time going to do
what we love and and take the somuch time away from the family
and and then you're racing toget back to the family and not
spend a lot of time wherever yougo.
So I always did it, always went, got the wave get out, I kind
of.
Some people are saying yeah,like a hit man.
(14:40):
you go in, you hit the waves andyou get on the same, and that's
how I did prefer to do it butyou don't embed yourself in the
culture and you don't reallysubmerge yourself and learn
about where you were and I meanit's probably hard to,
especially at this point.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I imagine it's hard to extract surfing from most of
your life because it's been sucha pivotal part of you as a
human.
You as a dad use a husband justjust in how you show up.
You know big wave surfing.
People might characterize it aslike, oh, you're just an
adrenaline junkie, oh you're,you're taking unnecessary risks.
But when you hear yourself talkabout it, you listen to
(15:16):
yourself in the documentary youcan tell there's much more
purpose behind it.
There's much more meaningbehind it and even what you just
described now, where you knowthe importance of the history
and the culture and embeddingyourself in this thing.
You know why do you think thesepursuits, big wave surfing are
so important for you and how youwant to show up as a human, as
a whole part of yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I think that for me, the pursuit and big wave surfing
was always, for the first halfit was was my passion and I did
do it for the rush, but it washow I put food on the table and
I had to produce something everyyear.
So there's a lot of ego and alot of I was always keep surfing
(16:06):
, be able to keep surfingwithout going to get a nine to
five.
So I would make sure that whenthat big swell was going to
Tahiti or that big swell wasgoing to Jaws or wherever the
big swell was going, that wasgoing to be the swell of the
year or the swell of the decade.
And I was there and I didsomething monumental or at least
something that the companiesI'm working with could showcase,
(16:28):
as, yeah, garrett did it againor however the heck it were
wiped out, or whatever I did toget a few of the heaviest
wipeouts and some of the heavierwaves here and there.
And, yeah, it's just veryinteresting to surfing and where
it takes you and what it doesfor you and to you and it's
really spiritual, it's it'sreally just being in the barrel.
(16:51):
You're in your own world.
It's like time stands still.
The ocean is kind of like yourchurch and your playground and
somehow your office as well.
Which kind of weird at thetimes when you're like working
where you love to be and youhave to focus on doing these
(17:11):
things, when you just want tofocus on enjoying the moment and
following your heart.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, I imagine that's got to be a really unique
struggle of making a career outof your passions, because I
imagine it sometimes and maybe Idon't know, but it might,
because it's a job.
Sometimes I imagine it mightlose its stoke or lose its
luster of like I have to go dothis, but you have made a very
long career out of surfing.
(17:36):
How do you find that it'shelpful for you to maintain that
enthusiasm or maintain thatreally meaningful spiritual
connection with surfing, so thatyou still get out of it what
you want personally but that youcan still continue to do it
also as a career?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It's funny.
It's been a little challenginglately with all the kids and
obligations and having to be adad for the second time.
Well, the funny thing is I canbe on the land for a long period
of time these days, like weeksor maybe even a month, without
surfing.
I just like to surf the reallyperfect days.
(18:15):
I mean I'll go out and getbarrel waves, I'll go out and
get friends waves, and ifthere's nobody drive me, I can't
even get away, which is alittle frustrating.
But I'll be on the landthinking, ok, I'm good, I'll be
fine, I'm going to have to surf.
I mean, back in the day, if Istay out of the water for a
couple days or a week, I wouldlike to fish out of the water.
I was losing my mind if Imissed a big swell that was
(18:38):
somewhere in the world that Ihad that, I had the money to get
there, I had the possibility tobe there and I didn't go.
I was literally on suicidewatch if I missed it.
Nowadays I don't have to be onany of the swells.
I mean I definitely when I seesomething somewhere that, like
if Fiji goes off and it's 20feet and I'll be a little edgy
(19:01):
that I didn't go.
Or if there's some perfect wavesomewhere that I could have
been on but I didn't go, I couldbe a little edgy about it, not
suicide watch, but just like, ohman, that would have been nice.
But then when I go in the waterand I'm palling out on a good
day, I'm just so happy and I'mlike thank you, thank you.
(19:23):
It's like so grateful and andthinking how could I ever think
that I don't need this, thatit's for your spirit, for your
soul, for your physical, mental.
It's just so special, special,and it feels so good to just
(19:44):
paddle out on a perfect day andyou see all your friends in the
lineup or drive out to some spotand there's nobody there but
you and your buddy, or there'sthree other teams, or there's 50
team, but the waves are justfiring in your, in your, having
a blast is.
There's nothing like it.
I don't know, somehow I'm ableto enjoy the land, make the best
(20:10):
of being on the land and nothave to be in the water.
But then, once I go back in thewater, I'm just like how could
I ever think that I don't needto be in the water?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
yeah, sure, yeah, I relate to that, I think I you
know, when I lived in San Diegoand I was at the beach daily and
it was such a big part of mylife, just the excitement of
when you're driving and you canfinally start seeing the waves
in the swell and you're likealmost crashing your car, like,
oh, dude, it's so good today.
Oh, look at that left andyou're just like that pure stoke
(20:43):
.
It's like you're a kid again,you know.
You know you're just that pure,unfiltered joy and, yeah, you
hope that you never lose that.
And it's so great to see andhear that, even though the sport
has really progressed for youover a long time, that that
stoke is still still there.
In one aspect I'm curious aboutto, and especially given the you
(21:06):
know size of the waves thatyou're surfing, is this idea of
risk.
You know, when I, when I waspre dad, you know I had a very
different assessment of risk andthings that I was comfortable,
you know, putting myself into,especially in the mountains.
You know how do you think riskhas changed for you since
becoming a dad, if at all?
(21:27):
Because I distinctly rememberlike this mental shift, even
just when my wife was pregnant,I was on a climb and I bailed
because I just like was not, Iwas not in the right headspace
for the risk that I was puttingmyself into, and I think since
then it's been very different.
So has risk changed for yousince becoming a dad?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Before I had children , I honestly didn't mind passing
riding big waves, because it'swhat I love to do more than
anything, and I had no problemdying in the big waves.
I made sure I did the training,did what I needed to do so I
wouldn't.
I wasn't on a death wish, but Iloved it so much that it didn't
(22:09):
matter to me really if I passedaway while surfing.
Once I had children, I toldmyself that I would never die
surfing and that I always trainand be ready for the situations
I'm going to get myself in.
I got the sixth sense.
I know what the good days andthe bad days are and when to
(22:32):
throw the towel.
I've actually thrown the towela couple of times in the last 20
, 30 years.
Jaws was definitely the spotwhere I decided to drive and not
surf Since 2016, when Ishattered my shoulder at
Mavericks.
That's when things reallychanged.
It wasn't due to the children.
(22:54):
It was due to the injury that Ireceived and had to endure for
still to this day.
The pain that I had to sufferfor so many months, even years,
from the shoulder injury was sooverwhelming that it really took
(23:17):
me out of the game pretty muchmentally and physically and
spiritually it really ruined me.
I was 2007,.
I lost.
There was no more fear for mein the ocean.
I was very comfortable and itwas normal to go out and surf
giant waves.
It was normal to stayunderwater as long as I needed
(23:38):
to.
It was normal to get poundedlike you've never been pounded.
It was actually more fun for meto get pounded than it was for
me to make a wave.
I really enjoyed gettingpounded much more than making
waves, because there was apossibility of getting the rush.
When I'm underwater, no control, at the mercy of the ocean, I
still wasn't getting rushes,even though it was because I was
(23:59):
just having fun underwater andcoming up.
No, I'm coming up.
Then, 2007, in Alaska, we didthe glacier surfing and it just
was a sensory overload.
From that day forward, theocean was easy and fun.
Oh, not easy.
The ocean was comfortable.
I still had respect 100%, but Iwas too casual, too nonchalant,
(24:23):
like whatever.
If I make it, I make it.
I'm going to do my best to makethis wave, but I'll take off 10
, 20, 30 feet deeper thaneverybody and try and pull in.
If I get pounded, no problem,I'm going to do my best to make
it, but I'll put it all on theline to get the ultimate ride.
If I get pounded, fine, I'mready.
Then, after the shouldershattered and the pain was so
(24:44):
severe, for so long I haven'treally gotten myself back 100%
as far as my lung capacity.
I broke my foot, got concussionand anytime I get pounded I
start thinking about the kidsand start thinking about Nicole
(25:04):
and start second guessingwhether it's worth it.
Then I get on the land.
A couple of weeks pass, a monthpass and I go forward.
I'm still having a back of mymind, Like am I going to enjoy
it?
Do I even want it?
I'm not going to do it unless Ifeel up to it.
Then this year we went out toCortez Banks and it was perfect,
(25:26):
glassy, and I wanted some bombsbadly.
The bomb came to me and thenfor some reason we didn't get it
.
It was mine but we didn't go.
I lost my mind.
It was buttery, 50, 60, 70 footbutter and we didn't go.
I lost my mind.
I was like I wanted it.
(25:47):
Then we went to Hawaii and sameexact thing.
The condition weren't quite asclean but they were good and I
wanted it.
We didn't go.
Lost my mind.
Right now I'm thinking was thatmy last hurrah?
Was that my last chance I had?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I wanted it and I didn't get it.
So then now I'm thinking tomyself okay, at least I got.
We're moving to Italy for theyear.
I'm going to be able to reallyfocus on the wife, the kids.
The icing on the cake istraining for a year without
really surfing.
I'm going to couple swells hereand there.
I'm close to France, I'm closeto Spain, I'm close to Portugal,
(26:27):
I'm close to Ireland, close toMorocco.
So at the epic, epic daysappear and I'm feeling good.
Then I can to our plane ride,two to four, our plane ride.
I'm anywhere and surfing,perfect waves.
But I don't have to.
We'll see if I'm feeling up toit.
The goal is just to train for ayear and get my shoulder
(26:50):
mobility and get my lungcapacity and get physically,
mentally, spiritually back towhere I was.
But there's also the identity,like who am I if I'm not surfing
?
And a surfer and littleidentity crisis going on.
I'm so lucky, I just need to beso grateful.
(27:12):
Healthy, healthy children.
We have food on the tape, wehave roof over our head.
So now it's working onspirituality and enlightenment
and doing things for the rightreasons, doing making a
difference, figuring out whatthe actual life purpose is.
(27:35):
I mean, through surfing, I canpretty much do anything and
pretty much work with anybody.
Pretty much do anything.
But it's like what do we do?
Who do we work with?
How do we make a difference?
How do we give back in the bestway humanly possible?
Or is it just focusing on thekids, focusing on being a good
(27:56):
father, raising children thatare contributors, or is it
actually doing it ourselves?
I think it's a balance.
Again, do it being a goodexample, working on being a good
example for the kids and forthe world?
And, yeah, it's all aboutbalance.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That's what it is Balance.
To find fulfillment, to findpurpose and meaning, you need
some struggle, and I think thatthat's probably why we pursue
some of the things we pursue isthat we're choosing a struggle
to try to find that purpose, tofind that meaning, because we
know that through that struggleis really the only way we're
(28:35):
going to get that enlightenment,learn those lessons that we
need.
But the balance piece is that'sthe hardest thing and I think
our best lessons as dads oftencome from our mistakes.
At least I know that's true forme.
Where I'm like, the areas whereI feel like I'm really good as
a dad, it's like because I'vemade half a dozen mistakes and
now I've really learned andhoned my craft as a dad.
(28:55):
Where do you feel you have agreat focus on balance now?
Where do you feel balance was astruggle for you in the past,
especially with the kids, andmaybe even too, like the idea
that you're traveling so muchand the kids are maybe going to
school all over the world andwe're dealing with different
time zones.
Where has balance been achallenge for you in the past
(29:19):
and what were some of those hardlessons when it came to trying
to balance family and serving?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
The main balance is the presence and whether I'm in
the home.
We're super lucky.
I'm here with them all the time, unless I'm in the water by
myself, but not that oftenanymore.
We're together 24, seven, 365,but I cannot be present, even
though I'm right there with them, thinking about something else
or focusing on something else,and not present.
(29:49):
My biggest challenge is beingpresent.
I mean, I think about the worldand like, what are we actually
doing here?
Why are we here?
Does it even matter that we'rehere?
Does it even matter what we'redoing or how we're doing it, or
just being a good human andbeing a good example and being
conscious and doing good things?
(30:11):
Does it even matter?
And when you have to just go toyour heart and figure out what
feels right, and then you'relike, okay, this my heart, I
know my heart.
Yes, we have to be contributors.
Yes, we have to do good things.
Yes, we have to make adifference.
Yes, we have to try and, forlack of a better word, not save
(30:32):
the world, not save Mother Earthor help Mother Earth, because
she's going to be here as amatter of the human race being
here or not.
But then you think, okay, thatfeeling, that heart feeling,
that I heartfelt feeling.
Is that a condition, feelingLike, is that even real?
So what do you think?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, that's a tough one.
I think that my mind spins whenI start going down that rabbit
hole of purpose.
And what is real?
Is that feeling a connection tosomething bigger?
Or is that just a fleetingfeeling?
That's just a normal part ofbeing a human and it's going to
(31:14):
be here one moment and gone thenext, and it doesn't have any
deeper meaning than that.
I don't know if we're eversupposed to be able to answer
that question, because I guessif we could answer the question,
I guess we'd stop searching foranswers, almost like if you
like, I guess, to you like ifyou got the 100 foot wave, do
(31:35):
you think surfing would changefor you and you would feel
content no longer seeking it?
And I think maybe that's thetricky part with that question
of purpose and meaning.
And why are we here?
Is that we aren't supposed tofigure that out?
Because once we do, we stoplooking for the answers, and I
think that that's where we findfulfillment in our life.
Is that constant quest ofsearch?
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I was always focused on this hundred foot waves and
that was my whole ultimate goal.
Getting barreled on a hundredtwenty foot wave was what I was
looking for, but with hundredfoot wave was the thing.
You know, that's what we're alllooking for to catch the
hundred foot wave.
And then, in 2012, I got thewave that the whole world sent
out as the hundred foot wave andI was like, oh, what the hell?
(32:18):
What are you guys doing to surfthe world?
The world, everybody said Garygot the hundred foot wave.
And then I, shortly after Ialways try not to stay rigidly
attached to the outcome, I tryto let things morph to where
they're going to go and then,like I don't know, a month or
two months or six months orwhatever it was, and I go every
(32:40):
way I go people tell me I caughtthe hundred foot wave.
The thing got the hundred footwave.
I'm like, all right, I'll runwith it.
I'm not going to get all weirdand go no, I didn't catch it.
I mean, I'll be there.
What I do say is don't believethe media has fake news.
That's what I always say.
But then now, with the hundredfoot wave series, now everybody,
(33:02):
whether I caught it or not, I'mthe hundred foot wave guy.
So I'm like, wow, all right, wecan run with this.
This is cool.
And we were like, no, don'tcall it a hundred foot wave.
No, that's the lamest titleever.
No, our surfers will neverclaim that my show's hundred
foot.
No, don't do that.
And Chris and Joe came up withit.
I'm not sure who won it.
I mean, of course they watchedthe interview and all we talk
(33:23):
about is a hundred foot wave andthe hundred foot wave was
searching for.
So they were smart and theydialed a hundred foot wave
against our.
We wanted it to be road to.
Nazarene like a spiritual thing.
But yeah, so don't be toorigidly attached and run with it
(33:45):
and flow.
Let things flow.
So I don't need to ride ahundred foot wave.
I have no attachments to it.
It's not something that I'msearching for.
It's something that I want tobe ready for.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
When you think about these lessons of purpose and the
way that you've talked about, Ilove the idea of like being
prepared for when the momentcomes.
How do you think about teachingthese lessons to your kids,
like, how do you think abouttranslating all that you've
learned as a man, as a dad, downto your kids?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
It's so challenging because I want my son to follow
my footsteps.
In a perfect world he would bea much greater contest surfer
and surfer than me and I couldreally make that happen easily,
because he's a freak, he's anatural, he's focused, he's
(34:42):
really more calculated than me,way better than I was.
But my wife and I agree withher just wants him to be a good
human.
So she doesn't want to pushthese sports or this or that,
even though surfing is the bestjob in the world.
But is there even a career forsurfers these days?
Is there going to be?
I don't know.
I mean, his name is Barrel.
(35:03):
Pretty much all he has to do isget Barrel.
So I'm not going to push him tosurf contests unless he comes
to me and wants to.
I'm not going to push him tosurf every day and unless he
says dad, let's go surfing.
He is in a spot where he lovessurfing.
Now he wants to surf.
Nicole just wants to be a goodhuman and a contributor.
(35:24):
She is right 100% and I standby that.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Something I'm always curious about too is I feel like
I've made the biggest stridesas a dad when I reflect on my
own relationship with my own dadand I love my dad.
But we've obviously had ourstruggles, especially growing up
when I was an angsty teenagerand pushing boundaries, and
didn't really realize a lot ofthese things until later in
(35:52):
reflecting that.
But I know you had a reallyunique childhood.
It's challenging at times, butI know that whether dads are
present or not, great or not,they still influence the way we
show up as dads today.
So how do you think you wouldcharacterize your relationship
with your dad growing up and howdo you think that that
relationship has shaped the waythat you're now showing up as a
(36:14):
dad?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
A lot of my childhood .
I blocked out somehow when Iwas younger I guess mostly just
the challenging memories that Idon't really want to remember.
Somehow I blocked a lot of themout.
My dad was a Latin majorEnglish teacher.
He was a basketball coach at aboarding school a stoppage
(36:36):
boarding school.
We're renowned.
Then my mom had us move toBerkeley and then to a hippie
commune and then back toBerkeley and then at 11, she
forced us to move to Hawaii, farfrom my father, and she left my
father and he didn't want herto leave, but she wanted to keep
(36:57):
going and she moved him fromhere to there to there and he
just finally said I'm not movinganymore and then it ended.
She still regrets it to thisday.
She wishes she had stayed withhim and she has an amazing
husband.
The guy's amazing, but therewas a lot of amazing things that
my dad was just always lovingand kind and supportive and
(37:23):
present, when he's a very, verycalm, cool, collective, present
person and very intelligent.
And not a lot of my dad rubbedoff on me.
Unfortunately, all the good thatmy dad has, I didn't get most
(37:46):
of it and a lot of it's from mymom, and I'm definitely a very
challenging person to be aroundat times if I'm not real happy
and I'm not doing what I want tobe doing, and a lot of that
comes from my mom.
Yeah, and my dad always saysstink before you talk.
(38:12):
And my mom never thinks beforeshe talks and I kind of go
towards my mom more.
The one thing I remember dadalways saying yeah, he he's in
Florida now and he's not doingthat.
Well, he's him Got a stroke, sohe still cruise him, but not
nothing like he was Definitelydeteriorating sad.
(38:36):
Yeah, yeah, you have nothing.
My dad was awesome.
Yeah, I just have a lot of good, amazing memories and I wish I
was more like him actually.
Yeah, more, and rubbed off onme.
I don't have regrets, but itwould have been nice by me was
around him more.
I would have got more of him,sure.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear he'snot doing well.
I think that's.
It's hard to see our parentsget older and go through health
struggles.
My dad had a heart attackrelatively young and I was sort
of like a shock to the system.
So I definitely definitely feelyou on the.
You know the parents growingolder and dealing with health
stuff.
But you know, I think it's itsounds between you know your dad
(39:15):
, and their presence and theircalmness.
It sounds like you do have somegreat models, at least of Folks
to help work on the, thepractice of being more presence.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
For my mom.
She was, you know.
She gave us a lot of freedom.
Freedom pretty much shaped us,made it to where we had to make
our own way in this world.
We had the we had to for lackof a better word fight for what
we wanted, or scrap, or we hadto figure it out.
We had to make it happen.
We had to align with the rightpeople.
We had to do the right things.
We had to focus.
(39:45):
We had to be focused.
We had, we had to make ithappen or nothing was gonna
happen.
And Without that freedom andwithout that lack of what we
wanted and what we thought weneeded, or we pretty much have
what we needed, but wedefinitely didn't have what we
wanted.
And if we wanted something, wehad to get.
(40:06):
We had to make it happen.
We had to, we had to get itsomehow.
And that was all from mom, andshe moved us to Hawaii where
Everything fell in place and allof our dreams came true.
So mom's amazing in that aspect, it's just very unconventional,
very different.
Yeah, very interesting.
Yes, oh, I just gave them toGod.
(40:30):
I left it all up to God.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
You're like mom.
If God gave us waves, then Ibelieve in God, so that's,
that's my connection.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
I'm underwater getting bounded, even, probably
still today, I don't know.
Please, god, help me?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I don't.
We're talking to the papaya orthe toaster poster.
Please help me toaster.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Oh God Amazing well, garrett, I really appreciate
your time, man.
I'm so excited for for all thethe different areas we got to
cover today.
And I'm just curious, like onelast thing you know what, what
are you working on now, what?
What's next in terms of?
I know you're, you're doing alot for the environment, like,
what kind of projects are yougetting into that that you know
(41:15):
our top of mind for you outsideof serving and dad life?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Well, we're always working on being plastic, single
use plastic free, which issuper challenging, but we would
do work on it.
We really work on it.
In a perfect world, my perfectself, never will use single use
pop plastic.
I would say out of a thousandbottles of water, maybe one is a
(41:39):
plastic bottle, randomly, whenthere's no water and you just
got to drink some water, or ifyou're in the third-world
country and there's no way toget clean drinking water and you
didn't do take the time to getglass bottles.
We have a foundation set up, theMcNamara Foundation, waves of
life, where we take childrensurfing, underprivileged
children.
Here in Portugal, the up atopof the lighthouse, there's a
(42:03):
boys home where there's fosterchildren and refugees and
there's probably like from 20 to40 of them all year long and we
take them surfing or hiking orsomething in nature once a week
to one, for, you know, copingskills and and mainly, sharing
(42:26):
the Mother nature with them inone way or another, preferably
surf therapy, getting them tofall in love with the word.
How can we expect them to evencare or want to nurture or, you
know, care about the environmentwithout without being in love
with it?
And and I share with them mystory from the beginning, like
(42:48):
when I had nothing and andactually was eating out of trash
cans when I was like five, witha cult called the Christ family
and and so I share that storywith them.
And then so we have, they werewhoa, this guy had a pretty
artist beginning maybe harderthan we do actually.
And so then I share with themthat everything's possible, it
(43:10):
doesn't matter where we comefrom, and and I try to inspire
them to go after their goals andwrite down what they love doing
and write down how to make thattheir career and and that works
really well, and we, we bondand we do some goal setting and
and then we see where they arethe year and a few years later.
(43:30):
Sometimes we even write thethings down and bury it and we
go dig it back up.
Um, then Hawaii superchallenging, we have right where
I learned how to surf.
There's a.
There's a home there for sextraffic teens the rehab center
(43:52):
in the United States.
There's Hundreds of thousandsof sex traffic teens.
There's only six.
Uh, is it six hundred?
I think six hundred beds inrehabs facilities out six
hundred beds in the UnitedStates in the rehab facilities,
30 of them are on the NorthShore of Hawaii, where I learned
(44:14):
how to surf, so we just surftherapy with them.
It's, it's crazy.
It's these girls have neverknown a man that they can trust.
They don't have any.
They see men, they run, theyhide, they scared, they're
scared and it's, it's crazy.
And we're working with them tobe able to cope and live in in
(44:36):
normal, a normal life in society.
And it's who sense real.
It's, yeah, it's challenging.
It's yeah, it's sad, it's heavy.
So we do that with thefoundation as well.
We're working with the Pathwatercompany and they have reusable
(44:57):
aluminum cans.
So the biggest challenge withthe water bottles of plastic
water is that Everybody buysthem and they throw them and end
up in the rivers or in thelandfills and they're gonna be
there forever and they'll end upin the bottom of the ocean and
end up just in.
It's terrible what's going onwith the plastic bottle, but
(45:18):
there's no solution unless youhave refills Stations everywhere
.
So, right, I mean, my biggestthing is every business in the
world, by law, should have tohave a refill station at their
Place of work, at their business, for everybody who shows up to
refill.
And Then the path has alreadygot the water bottles, they're
(45:43):
everywhere.
You get them.
You can reuse them for alifetime, or you can, at least
you're gonna reuse them once ortwice, if not 10, 20, 30 times.
But then it's aluminum, so youcan recycle as well, and it's
not plastic, it's gonna end up,it's aluminum.
So, yeah, we just started, wealigned with this company called
(46:04):
spot insurance, which isAmazing.
Anywhere you go, I think in theworld, you can get not a ski
lift, I want insurance.
I'm going up a lift right now.
Okay, if you nice, insurance,all the car, what else?
Oh, I want to show my board.
Oh, I want to show my jet ski.
Oh, there's that.
(46:25):
The other thing.
It's like Uber of insurance orInsurance all a cart for a very
small amount as you're going todo the activity.
It's right, yeah, I love thatyeah, but insurance.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That's so smart.
Yeah, you see the conditionsand you're like I need insurance
for this.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
That's awesome and you can get a bunch of other
things on the, on the, at thatsame moment.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Whether it's your body or board Colleges, I don't
know yeah some sort ofrecognition?
Yeah, yeah don't quote me onthat, but I think you can
actually do that.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Yeah, folks, you go to the website and get the full
list.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, and then you know,mercedes has always been an
amazing supporter of us andthey're going fully electric, so
we've been very fortunate thatthey support our projects and
we've been working with them fora long time.
And then, yeah, we've beenhaving a lot of fun with a lot
of the companies.
(47:26):
It's really really.
The HBO has been incredible.
Portugal incredible the world,the whole world.
It's just been so incrediblethe way that everybody's
enjoying the series and all.
I mean I don't feel like anydifferent than anybody else.
(47:50):
I don't feel like I'm aninspiring person, but people are
getting inspired and that wasthe goal, like my wife's.
Like we're not doing thisunless we can spread some good
messages and hopefully inspiresome people, and so, I don't
know, somehow it's working andeverybody's loving it and
everybody's sending usincredible, beautiful
(48:11):
heart-to-heart messages thatreally inspire me to continue
this journey and do our best todo things in a good way.
You know it's mostly my wife.
My wife is my biggest influenceand I'm so lucky that I have
heard my life and that she'ssuch a selfless, amazing human
that doesn't stop in a good wayfor the world, for everything
(48:38):
she represents.
She's here for the world.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah, man, I don't know where I'd be without my
wife.
I hear you 100% in so many wayswhere you know, especially when
it comes to the kids and makingsure that we're focused on the
right values, focused on all thethings that they need, but also
just like making sure that ourfamily is trying to go out into
the world and make it better andbe good people and be that
(49:02):
positive influence.
So, yeah, I hear you Wives areso great at keeping us in check
but allowing us to go out and doamazing things out in the world
when we leave the house.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
So but I honestly think if they were running the
world, it would be a much betterplace.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Oh yeah absolutely Well, Garrett, I got to say
thank you again.
So much for your time.
I can hear the sounds of joyand chaos, so I'll let you get
back to it, but I reallyappreciate you taking time to
chat today All right.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Thank you so much for your patience and your
understanding on everything.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
This has been an episode of the Athlete Dad
Podcast.
As always, we'd really loveyour support in helping to get
this podcast out into the world.
You can do that by sharing itwith somebody you care about,
who you think would reallyappreciate the content of what
we talk about.
You can also like and review onall podcast platforms, so go
give us some love.
It's much appreciated and itcertainly helps us out keeping
(50:08):
the show going.
It's also important that yougive us a follow on Instagram.
At theathletedad, you can getall the access to all the
pictures and content and morefrom the podcast that we talk
about and, of course, I'm avisual person, so I love what we
get to share on Instagram andit keeps you up to date on all
the things happening with thepodcast.
(50:28):
So go give us a follow onInstagram and actually all other
socials at theathletedad.
If you want exclusive access tocontent that we do not share
publicly on the podcast orsocials themselves, you're going
to want to sign up for ouremail list.
Go to theathletedadcom.
Sign up for the email list,become one of our exclusive
(50:48):
subscribers and you'll getaccess to things like more bonus
episodes, deeper dives, othercontent that we just don't
release to the public Thingsthat I think, if you really
enjoy this topic, you're goingto love, because we just get
much more into the weeds on allof these things.
So go to theathletedadcom, signup for our email list and grab
yourself some of that exclusivecontent.
Through surfing I can pretty much do anything.
But it's like what do we do?
Who do we work with?
How do we make a difference?
How do we give back in the bestway humanly possible?
Or is it just focusing on thekids, focusing on being a good
father, raising children thatare good contributors?
I think it's a balance.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
This is the Athlete Dad Podcast, where we explore
the intersection betweenphysical pursuits and fatherhood
.
I'm Ben Gibson, and if you'rean ambitious dad that is
pursuing or looking to pursueyour athletic passions now while
improving the way you show upat home, then this is a show for
you.
In the sport of surfing, thereare surfers, and then there are
(00:57):
big wave surfers.
Big wave surfers are a totallydifferent breed of human doing a
totally different version ofthe sport.
The ocean can be a reallyterrifying place, especially
when you're sitting amongstgiant swell and waves.
That can remind you exactly howpowerless you can be when going
(01:19):
up against something like theocean and just how easily it can
push you around.
In fact, very few people haveeven witnessed what big wave
surfers would consider to be abig wave or a good swell.
Take, for example, there's thiscontest, eddie I Cow, big Wave
Infantational, where they won'teven run the contest unless the
(01:39):
waves are consistently 20 feettall, which is crazy, until you
find out that places like JAWS,mavericks and a special wave off
the coast of a small village ofNazare in Portugal are surfed
with waves that reach anywherefrom 30 to more than 80 feet
tall.
80 feet, that's the equivalentto surfing an eight-story
(02:02):
building that's moving 60 to 80miles per hour.
That's a speed where a wipeoutsees a body skipping across the
water like a pebble across alake.
These waves are heavy, big,fast and they are deadly.
I give you all that contextbecause you'll need it to fully
understand how epic the pursuitsof today's guest, garrett
(02:26):
McNamara, are and to fullyappreciate that when Garrett
talks about the challenges offatherhood, it's spoken by
someone who has personallyridden a 78-foot wave.
There's this quote circulatingthe internet right now that says
parenting is only hard for goodparents, essentially saying
that it's hard because you'rereally working to show up as a
(02:51):
great parent, as a great dad,and that quote, I think, really
summarizes a lot of myconversation with Garrett.
Being a great dad, or at leasttrying to be, is really damn
hard sometimes.
I think it's not often that menand dads we get to have this
very real conversation aroundhow challenging it can be, and
(03:11):
that's one of the things that Ireally appreciated about my
conversation with Garrett isjust the authenticity in which
he spoke about these challenges.
Now, garrett is aninternational big wave explorer
known for discovering andpioneering the biggest wave in
the world at Nazaré, portugal.
You may already know Garrettfrom the HBO series 100-Foot
(03:32):
Wave or from the other endeavorsthat Garrett has pursued as a
big wave surfer.
He is an eight-time worldrecord holder for the largest
wave ever surfed and he's partof the only team to have ever
surfed waves generated by a300-foot calving glacier in
Alaska.
Most importantly, he and hiswife, nicole and their family
(03:53):
are on a mission to share theimportance of connecting to
nature.
I had a chance to catch up withGarrett from his home in Nazaré,
portugal, and we talked a lotabout those hard things and how
to try to approach them with asense of gratitude and choice.
We talked about how surfing hascompletely influenced the life
(04:13):
that he lives and the way thathe shows up as a dad.
We've explored the idea ofpurpose and meaning, and often
we come up with more questionsthan answers.
It's a very real, authentic andmeaningful conversation and I'm
just really grateful thatGarrett and his family, nicole
and the kids, were able tosqueeze us in and share some of
(04:34):
the wisdom with us.
Now we do talk about somespecific waves and breaks, so
I'll add them to the show notesso you have some visual context
for these incredible places thatwe talk about, but I really
think that you're going toappreciate and love this
conversation.
Without further ado, pleaseenjoy my conversation with the
father, husband and man who alsohappens to be a legendary big
(04:56):
wave surfer, mr Garrett McNamara.
Garrett, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast today.
I am so grateful for your time.
It's so grateful to have youhere.
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And anything to share about being a father, I mean,
and I'm really looking forwardto learn anything that you can
share with me as well how tobalance things.
It's all about balance and Ican do pretty well on the board,
but it's very challenging inlife on the land.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, Isn't that interesting how much easier it
is to just go balance on an80-foot wave.
But then we come home and it'slike, wow, this is way harder.
So yeah, I'm super pumped and Ithink, to sort of set the
context I'd love to hear aboutwhat does dad life look for you
right now?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, we've been moving around a lot.
We've been traveling a lot.
At home in Hawaii it was get upin the morning, get breakfast
ready for the kids and then getThaya to her school, get Faye
from Nicole so Faye Nicole cansleep, and then take Barrel to
do something after I've droppedoff Thaya.
(06:10):
Ideally we go surfing.
I either take him on the jetski and tow surf or take him to
a surf spot and with Fayesometimes it's going to be a
little more challenging becauseif there's waves, Nicole and
Grandma and Papa all three don'twant Faye on the jet ski when
there's waves and I mean, yeah,it's a little dangerous, but if
(06:32):
it's really small and she has alife jacket on, I feel pretty
confident.
But even then.
So I have to leave her behindand take Barrel out.
She's screaming and she wantsto come on the jet ski and
somebody has to grab her.
And then me and Barrel go halfthe time of our life I put him
on 50 waves in an hour and thenwe come back and then he likes
to go fishing and we can takeFaye on the fishing missions.
(06:56):
But you know, a lot of days thewaves aren't ideal and it's not
good to tow or paddle, and inHawaii I get pulled into the art
.
I really love trying to finisheverything.
I want everything to befinished so that way I can fully
enjoy it, but I think there'llalways be something, so I just
have to really enjoy it whileI'm there.
(07:17):
I leave for three months, Ileave for six months.
Everything's fine, theproperty's fine, whether it's
finished or not.
I come home and I just work inthe yard and play with the kids,
and I think I need to be alittle more present with Nicole
and the kids when I'm not doingwhat I really enjoy doing with
them, when we're doing somethingthat's more, you know, not
(07:40):
quite as fun.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, I hear that I think the presence is the
hardest thing and I liked whatyou said in the beginning of you
know here to learn I thinkthat's really the goal of the
podcast is, like you know, Ibelieve people change for either
inspiration or desperation, andI was really in a moment of
desperation because I was reallystruggling with balance.
I was pursuing my dreams but itcame at the expense of my family
(08:03):
and family time, and so youknow, I think that you know the
best we can really do is just beaware of where we might not be
showing up the way that we wantto show up.
And I hear you on the presentside, I struggle with that too.
You know I just got back from aclimb in Alaska and I feel like
I haven't really been my fullpresent self for a month even
(08:24):
after coming back.
You know how do you feel thatstruggle is for you when you are
, especially when you're goingafter these really big,
audacious goals, or you've justgot back from traveling, like.
Like, tell me about presenceand where it may be challenging
for you in your life.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
One thing that really keeps me from being present is
the phone, and we go so far asto only have one phone.
We have a bat phone that incase one of us is going to go
somewhere.
We have another phone that weactivate when we need to and we
had it off forever and it wasnice because one of us is always
present when the phones areboth on and then I get sucked in
(09:02):
to look at a server report orsucked in to check in an email
or a text or a phone call or orInstagram.
The phone is probably thebiggest distraction and the
hardest thing to balance.
Like you just stuck is like thephone is definitely not the
Android.
We are the androids now becausethis is it, and I find myself
that I was watching the seriesand I'm like this.
(09:25):
Half the time I was like, oh,I'm telling the camera and don't
feel me when I'm on the phoneand he's filming.
It was the only time I get madand the only thing I don't want
him filming is when I'm on thephone.
So I'm working on being morepresent.
The thing is to work on reallyenjoying and really loving all
the situations we choose to bein and if we're in the situation
(09:49):
, love it.
But it's a really challengingconcept.
I'm working on it.
I'm working on okay.
When I'm just sitting therewith Faye and she wants to go do
this or that and I want to bedoing something else and I have
to say Okay, do I have a choiceto be no?
No choice is where I have to beOkay.
So love this fully and bepresent and have fun.
And that concept is.
It's amazing.
(10:10):
It's the most beautiful conceptand one of the most challenging
, but it's realistic.
We all have the choice to loveall of the situations we get
into, whether it's a challengingone or not.
We can choose to love it or wecan choose to get angry and, for
lack of a better word, makeourselves toxic and not fun to
be around and lower ourvibration and show up with this
(10:32):
funky vibration that everybodyfeels and then the room changes
and everybody changes.
It's all about our vibration,balance and vibrations.
So, if we can balance thethings we love to do and the
things that are challenging andno matter what, whether we love
it or we feel it's challengingshow up with this positive, good
vibration.
If I'm happy and I'm doingthings that I like doing, I got
(10:54):
the good vibration, but if I'mdoing things that I prefer not
to be doing, I can tend to lowermy vibration and it ruins the
room Everybody changes everybodyin the room, everybody
encounter everywhere you go.
You just I think of some people.
They can easily change thevibration of a room by showing
up with a good or bad vibration.
(11:16):
Other people might just kind ofnavigate the room no matter
what vibration there are in, andcertain people show up in the
whole room changes for business.
It's like so important to showup with a good vibration again.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I love what you said about choice.
You know, like remindingourselves that we're we can
choose how we want to show up.
We can choose, or I at leastremember that we chose this
moment.
We chose, you know, these hardthings and that's always my
preference too is a verystubborn individual, if I can
frame it that way, and I reallylike how you said it.
But it's like, you know, I'mgonna choose my heart and I have
chosen this hard, so I'm gonnaenjoy this hard when you choose
(11:51):
it and enjoy it, then it'samazing, but if you don't, then
it just talks it.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
For you and everybody around you.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, that idea of, like you said, changing the room
.
A friend of mine always saidthat you know you can either be
a thermometer or a thermostatwhen you show up for your family
, so you're either just therematching the temperature of the
room.
So you know, I think about itin the context of like you come
and there's chaos and you'rejust like matching the chaos.
You come and you're like what'sgoing?
(12:21):
on okay everybody chill out,like to stop doing that, get
down, or you can be thethermostat right where you're
like, okay, I'm reading the room.
I need to bring a little bitmore positive energy to here,
let me.
Let me lower the temperaturehere a bit, bring a little bit
more fun.
And I, like you said the highpositive frequency, let me bring
that to the equation.
And I think about that in termsof when I'm making transitions,
(12:43):
because I noticed that Iwouldn't be present coming out
of transitions.
I come home from work, right,come back from training or a
climb or anything, and I have tobe very conscious about this
idea of I'm gonna landdeliberately in this moment and
choose how I'm gonna have myfeet touch the ground, and I
think just that alone has beenso helpful in this idea talked
(13:04):
about of Choosing the moment,however it may be good or bad,
difficult, easy but also theidea of choosing what kind of
vibrations, what kind of energyam I bringing to this Moment
here, and of course, it's wayeasier said than done, but like
that's the practice that I'm,I'm trying to be more conscious
about.
Yeah, definitely going in theright direction.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, in a good way.
I like to say do it in a goodway.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, yeah, I love that you you had said something
one time.
I think it was like surf forthe right reasons, and I I
thought about that in terms of,like, how you show up in life,
like doing it for the rightreasons, do it the right way.
I think that that's probablysomething that I imagine is come
from surfing and influence life.
Like you know, you've you'vespent your career surfing.
(13:50):
What are the ways in which youthink that surfing has
influenced the way that you'veshown up as a dad?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It would influence me to get in the water with the
kids and share the ocean and getthem excited about, you know,
being in the ocean and fishingand I'm not much of a fisherman
but I support my son fishing andsurfing and diving and it is
such a selfish sport and we gochase waves because we love to
(14:19):
and you know we spend all ourmoney half the time going to do
what we love and and take the somuch time away from the family
and and then you're racing toget back to the family and not
spend a lot of time wherever yougo.
So I always did it, always went, got the wave get out, I kind
of.
Some people are saying yeah,like a hit man.
(14:40):
you go in, you hit the waves andyou get on the same, and that's
how I did prefer to do it butyou don't embed yourself in the
culture and you don't reallysubmerge yourself and learn
about where you were and I meanit's probably hard to,
especially at this point.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I imagine it's hard to extract surfing from most of
your life because it's been sucha pivotal part of you as a
human.
You as a dad use a husband justjust in how you show up.
You know big wave surfing.
People might characterize it aslike, oh, you're just an
adrenaline junkie, oh you're,you're taking unnecessary risks.
But when you hear yourself talkabout it, you listen to
(15:16):
yourself in the documentary youcan tell there's much more
purpose behind it.
There's much more meaningbehind it and even what you just
described now, where you knowthe importance of the history
and the culture and embeddingyourself in this thing.
You know why do you think thesepursuits, big wave surfing are
so important for you and how youwant to show up as a human, as
a whole part of yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I think that for me, the pursuit and big wave surfing
was always, for the first halfit was was my passion and I did
do it for the rush, but it washow I put food on the table and
I had to produce something everyyear.
So there's a lot of ego and alot of I was always keep surfing
(16:06):
, be able to keep surfingwithout going to get a nine to
five.
So I would make sure that whenthat big swell was going to
Tahiti or that big swell wasgoing to Jaws or wherever the
big swell was going, that wasgoing to be the swell of the
year or the swell of the decade.
And I was there and I didsomething monumental or at least
something that the companiesI'm working with could showcase,
(16:28):
as, yeah, garrett did it againor however the heck it were
wiped out, or whatever I did toget a few of the heaviest
wipeouts and some of the heavierwaves here and there.
And, yeah, it's just veryinteresting to surfing and where
it takes you and what it doesfor you and to you and it's
really spiritual, it's it'sreally just being in the barrel.
(16:51):
You're in your own world.
It's like time stands still.
The ocean is kind of like yourchurch and your playground and
somehow your office as well.
Which kind of weird at thetimes when you're like working
where you love to be and youhave to focus on doing these
(17:11):
things, when you just want tofocus on enjoying the moment and
following your heart.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, I imagine that's got to be a really unique
struggle of making a career outof your passions, because I
imagine it sometimes and maybe Idon't know, but it might,
because it's a job.
Sometimes I imagine it mightlose its stoke or lose its
luster of like I have to go dothis, but you have made a very
long career out of surfing.
(17:36):
How do you find that it'shelpful for you to maintain that
enthusiasm or maintain thatreally meaningful spiritual
connection with surfing, so thatyou still get out of it what
you want personally but that youcan still continue to do it
also as a career?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It's funny.
It's been a little challenginglately with all the kids and
obligations and having to be adad for the second time.
Well, the funny thing is I canbe on the land for a long period
of time these days, like weeksor maybe even a month, without
surfing.
I just like to surf the reallyperfect days.
(18:15):
I mean I'll go out and getbarrel waves, I'll go out and
get friends waves, and ifthere's nobody drive me, I can't
even get away, which is alittle frustrating.
But I'll be on the landthinking, ok, I'm good, I'll be
fine, I'm going to have to surf.
I mean, back in the day, if Istay out of the water for a
couple days or a week, I wouldlike to fish out of the water.
I was losing my mind if Imissed a big swell that was
(18:38):
somewhere in the world that Ihad that, I had the money to get
there, I had the possibility tobe there and I didn't go.
I was literally on suicidewatch if I missed it.
Nowadays I don't have to be onany of the swells.
I mean I definitely when I seesomething somewhere that, like
if Fiji goes off and it's 20feet and I'll be a little edgy
(19:01):
that I didn't go.
Or if there's some perfect wavesomewhere that I could have
been on but I didn't go, I couldbe a little edgy about it, not
suicide watch, but just like, ohman, that would have been nice.
But then when I go in the waterand I'm palling out on a good
day, I'm just so happy and I'mlike thank you, thank you.
(19:23):
It's like so grateful and andthinking how could I ever think
that I don't need this, thatit's for your spirit, for your
soul, for your physical, mental.
It's just so special, special,and it feels so good to just
(19:44):
paddle out on a perfect day andyou see all your friends in the
lineup or drive out to some spotand there's nobody there but
you and your buddy, or there'sthree other teams, or there's 50
team, but the waves are justfiring in your, in your, having
a blast is.
There's nothing like it.
I don't know, somehow I'm ableto enjoy the land, make the best
(20:10):
of being on the land and nothave to be in the water.
But then, once I go back in thewater, I'm just like how could
I ever think that I don't needto be in the water?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
yeah, sure, yeah, I relate to that, I think I you
know, when I lived in San Diegoand I was at the beach daily and
it was such a big part of mylife, just the excitement of
when you're driving and you canfinally start seeing the waves
in the swell and you're likealmost crashing your car, like,
oh, dude, it's so good today.
Oh, look at that left andyou're just like that pure stoke
(20:43):
.
It's like you're a kid again,you know.
You know you're just that pure,unfiltered joy and, yeah, you
hope that you never lose that.
And it's so great to see andhear that, even though the sport
has really progressed for youover a long time, that that
stoke is still still there.
In one aspect I'm curious aboutto, and especially given the you
(21:06):
know size of the waves thatyou're surfing, is this idea of
risk.
You know, when I, when I waspre dad, you know I had a very
different assessment of risk andthings that I was comfortable,
you know, putting myself into,especially in the mountains.
You know how do you think riskhas changed for you since
becoming a dad, if at all?
(21:27):
Because I distinctly rememberlike this mental shift, even
just when my wife was pregnant,I was on a climb and I bailed
because I just like was not, Iwas not in the right headspace
for the risk that I was puttingmyself into, and I think since
then it's been very different.
So has risk changed for yousince becoming a dad?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Before I had children , I honestly didn't mind passing
riding big waves, because it'swhat I love to do more than
anything, and I had no problemdying in the big waves.
I made sure I did the training,did what I needed to do so I
wouldn't.
I wasn't on a death wish, but Iloved it so much that it didn't
(22:09):
matter to me really if I passedaway while surfing.
Once I had children, I toldmyself that I would never die
surfing and that I always trainand be ready for the situations
I'm going to get myself in.
I got the sixth sense.
I know what the good days andthe bad days are and when to
(22:32):
throw the towel.
I've actually thrown the towela couple of times in the last 20
, 30 years.
Jaws was definitely the spotwhere I decided to drive and not
surf Since 2016, when Ishattered my shoulder at
Mavericks.
That's when things reallychanged.
It wasn't due to the children.
(22:54):
It was due to the injury that Ireceived and had to endure for
still to this day.
The pain that I had to sufferfor so many months, even years,
from the shoulder injury was sooverwhelming that it really took
(23:17):
me out of the game pretty muchmentally and physically and
spiritually it really ruined me.
I was 2007,.
I lost.
There was no more fear for mein the ocean.
I was very comfortable and itwas normal to go out and surf
giant waves.
It was normal to stayunderwater as long as I needed
(23:38):
to.
It was normal to get poundedlike you've never been pounded.
It was actually more fun for meto get pounded than it was for
me to make a wave.
I really enjoyed gettingpounded much more than making
waves, because there was apossibility of getting the rush.
When I'm underwater, no control, at the mercy of the ocean, I
still wasn't getting rushes,even though it was because I was
(23:59):
just having fun underwater andcoming up.
No, I'm coming up.
Then, 2007, in Alaska, we didthe glacier surfing and it just
was a sensory overload.
From that day forward, theocean was easy and fun.
Oh, not easy.
The ocean was comfortable.
I still had respect 100%, but Iwas too casual, too nonchalant,
(24:23):
like whatever.
If I make it, I make it.
I'm going to do my best to makethis wave, but I'll take off 10
, 20, 30 feet deeper thaneverybody and try and pull in.
If I get pounded, no problem,I'm going to do my best to make
it, but I'll put it all on theline to get the ultimate ride.
If I get pounded, fine, I'mready.
Then, after the shouldershattered and the pain was so
(24:44):
severe, for so long I haven'treally gotten myself back 100%
as far as my lung capacity.
I broke my foot, got concussionand anytime I get pounded I
start thinking about the kidsand start thinking about Nicole
(25:04):
and start second guessingwhether it's worth it.
Then I get on the land.
A couple of weeks pass, a monthpass and I go forward.
I'm still having a back of mymind, Like am I going to enjoy
it?
Do I even want it?
I'm not going to do it unless Ifeel up to it.
Then this year we went out toCortez Banks and it was perfect,
(25:26):
glassy, and I wanted some bombsbadly.
The bomb came to me and thenfor some reason we didn't get it
.
It was mine but we didn't go.
I lost my mind.
It was buttery, 50, 60, 70 footbutter and we didn't go.
I lost my mind.
I was like I wanted it.
(25:47):
Then we went to Hawaii and sameexact thing.
The condition weren't quite asclean but they were good and I
wanted it.
We didn't go.
Lost my mind.
Right now I'm thinking was thatmy last hurrah?
Was that my last chance I had?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I wanted it and I didn't get it.
So then now I'm thinking tomyself okay, at least I got.
We're moving to Italy for theyear.
I'm going to be able to reallyfocus on the wife, the kids.
The icing on the cake istraining for a year without
really surfing.
I'm going to couple swells hereand there.
I'm close to France, I'm closeto Spain, I'm close to Portugal,
(26:27):
I'm close to Ireland, close toMorocco.
So at the epic, epic daysappear and I'm feeling good.
Then I can to our plane ride,two to four, our plane ride.
I'm anywhere and surfing,perfect waves.
But I don't have to.
We'll see if I'm feeling up toit.
The goal is just to train for ayear and get my shoulder
(26:50):
mobility and get my lungcapacity and get physically,
mentally, spiritually back towhere I was.
But there's also the identity,like who am I if I'm not surfing
?
And a surfer and littleidentity crisis going on.
I'm so lucky, I just need to beso grateful.
(27:12):
Healthy, healthy children.
We have food on the tape, wehave roof over our head.
So now it's working onspirituality and enlightenment
and doing things for the rightreasons, doing making a
difference, figuring out whatthe actual life purpose is.
(27:35):
I mean, through surfing, I canpretty much do anything and
pretty much work with anybody.
Pretty much do anything.
But it's like what do we do?
Who do we work with?
How do we make a difference?
How do we give back in the bestway humanly possible?
Or is it just focusing on thekids, focusing on being a good
(27:56):
father, raising children thatare contributors, or is it
actually doing it ourselves?
I think it's a balance.
Again, do it being a goodexample, working on being a good
example for the kids and forthe world?
And, yeah, it's all aboutbalance.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
That's what it is Balance.
To find fulfillment, to findpurpose and meaning, you need
some struggle, and I think thatthat's probably why we pursue
some of the things we pursue isthat we're choosing a struggle
to try to find that purpose, tofind that meaning, because we
know that through that struggleis really the only way we're
(28:35):
going to get that enlightenment,learn those lessons that we
need.
But the balance piece is that'sthe hardest thing and I think
our best lessons as dads oftencome from our mistakes.
At least I know that's true forme.
Where I'm like, the areas whereI feel like I'm really good as
a dad, it's like because I'vemade half a dozen mistakes and
now I've really learned andhoned my craft as a dad.
(28:55):
Where do you feel you have agreat focus on balance now?
Where do you feel balance was astruggle for you in the past,
especially with the kids, andmaybe even too, like the idea
that you're traveling so muchand the kids are maybe going to
school all over the world andwe're dealing with different
time zones.
Where has balance been achallenge for you in the past
(29:19):
and what were some of those hardlessons when it came to trying
to balance family and serving?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
The main balance is the presence and whether I'm in
the home.
We're super lucky.
I'm here with them all the time, unless I'm in the water by
myself, but not that oftenanymore.
We're together 24, seven, 365,but I cannot be present, even
though I'm right there with them, thinking about something else
or focusing on something else,and not present.
(29:49):
My biggest challenge is beingpresent.
I mean, I think about the worldand like, what are we actually
doing here?
Why are we here?
Does it even matter that we'rehere?
Does it even matter what we'redoing or how we're doing it, or
just being a good human andbeing a good example and being
conscious and doing good things?
(30:11):
Does it even matter?
And when you have to just go toyour heart and figure out what
feels right, and then you'relike, okay, this my heart, I
know my heart.
Yes, we have to be contributors.
Yes, we have to do good things.
Yes, we have to make adifference.
Yes, we have to try and, forlack of a better word, not save
(30:32):
the world, not save Mother Earthor help Mother Earth, because
she's going to be here as amatter of the human race being
here or not.
But then you think, okay, thatfeeling, that heart feeling,
that I heartfelt feeling.
Is that a condition, feelingLike, is that even real?
So what do you think?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, that's a tough one.
I think that my mind spins whenI start going down that rabbit
hole of purpose.
And what is real?
Is that feeling a connection tosomething bigger?
Or is that just a fleetingfeeling?
That's just a normal part ofbeing a human and it's going to
(31:14):
be here one moment and gone thenext, and it doesn't have any
deeper meaning than that.
I don't know if we're eversupposed to be able to answer
that question, because I guessif we could answer the question,
I guess we'd stop searching foranswers, almost like if you
like, I guess, to you like ifyou got the 100 foot wave, do
(31:35):
you think surfing would changefor you and you would feel
content no longer seeking it?
And I think maybe that's thetricky part with that question
of purpose and meaning.
And why are we here?
Is that we aren't supposed tofigure that out?
Because once we do, we stoplooking for the answers, and I
think that that's where we findfulfillment in our life.
Is that constant quest ofsearch?
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I was always focused on this hundred foot waves and
that was my whole ultimate goal.
Getting barreled on a hundredtwenty foot wave was what I was
looking for, but with hundredfoot wave was the thing.
You know, that's what we're alllooking for to catch the
hundred foot wave.
And then, in 2012, I got thewave that the whole world sent
out as the hundred foot wave andI was like, oh, what the hell?
(32:18):
What are you guys doing to surfthe world?
The world, everybody said Garygot the hundred foot wave.
And then I, shortly after Ialways try not to stay rigidly
attached to the outcome, I tryto let things morph to where
they're going to go and then,like I don't know, a month or
two months or six months orwhatever it was, and I go every
(32:40):
way I go people tell me I caughtthe hundred foot wave.
The thing got the hundred footwave.
I'm like, all right, I'll runwith it.
I'm not going to get all weirdand go no, I didn't catch it.
I mean, I'll be there.
What I do say is don't believethe media has fake news.
That's what I always say.
But then now, with the hundredfoot wave series, now everybody,
(33:02):
whether I caught it or not, I'mthe hundred foot wave guy.
So I'm like, wow, all right, wecan run with this.
This is cool.
And we were like, no, don'tcall it a hundred foot wave.
No, that's the lamest titleever.
No, our surfers will neverclaim that my show's hundred
foot.
No, don't do that.
And Chris and Joe came up withit.
I'm not sure who won it.
I mean, of course they watchedthe interview and all we talk
(33:23):
about is a hundred foot wave andthe hundred foot wave was
searching for.
So they were smart and theydialed a hundred foot wave
against our.
We wanted it to be road to.
Nazarene like a spiritual thing.
But yeah, so don't be toorigidly attached and run with it
(33:45):
and flow.
Let things flow.
So I don't need to ride ahundred foot wave.
I have no attachments to it.
It's not something that I'msearching for.
It's something that I want tobe ready for.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
When you think about these lessons of purpose and the
way that you've talked about, Ilove the idea of like being
prepared for when the momentcomes.
How do you think about teachingthese lessons to your kids,
like, how do you think abouttranslating all that you've
learned as a man, as a dad, downto your kids?
Speaker 1 (34:18):
It's so challenging because I want my son to follow
my footsteps.
In a perfect world he would bea much greater contest surfer
and surfer than me and I couldreally make that happen easily,
because he's a freak, he's anatural, he's focused, he's
(34:42):
really more calculated than me,way better than I was.
But my wife and I agree withher just wants him to be a good
human.
So she doesn't want to pushthese sports or this or that,
even though surfing is the bestjob in the world.
But is there even a career forsurfers these days?
Is there going to be?
I don't know.
I mean, his name is Barrel.
(35:03):
Pretty much all he has to do isget Barrel.
So I'm not going to push him tosurf contests unless he comes
to me and wants to.
I'm not going to push him tosurf every day and unless he
says dad, let's go surfing.
He is in a spot where he lovessurfing.
Now he wants to surf.
Nicole just wants to be a goodhuman and a contributor.
(35:24):
She is right 100% and I standby that.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Something I'm always curious about too is I feel like
I've made the biggest stridesas a dad when I reflect on my
own relationship with my own dadand I love my dad.
But we've obviously had ourstruggles, especially growing up
when I was an angsty teenagerand pushing boundaries, and
didn't really realize a lot ofthese things until later in
(35:52):
reflecting that.
But I know you had a reallyunique childhood.
It's challenging at times, butI know that whether dads are
present or not, great or not,they still influence the way we
show up as dads today.
So how do you think you wouldcharacterize your relationship
with your dad growing up and howdo you think that that
relationship has shaped the waythat you're now showing up as a
(36:14):
dad?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
A lot of my childhood .
I blocked out somehow when Iwas younger I guess mostly just
the challenging memories that Idon't really want to remember.
Somehow I blocked a lot of themout.
My dad was a Latin majorEnglish teacher.
He was a basketball coach at aboarding school a stoppage
(36:36):
boarding school.
We're renowned.
Then my mom had us move toBerkeley and then to a hippie
commune and then back toBerkeley and then at 11, she
forced us to move to Hawaii, farfrom my father, and she left my
father and he didn't want herto leave, but she wanted to keep
(36:57):
going and she moved him fromhere to there to there and he
just finally said I'm not movinganymore and then it ended.
She still regrets it to thisday.
She wishes she had stayed withhim and she has an amazing
husband.
The guy's amazing, but therewas a lot of amazing things that
my dad was just always lovingand kind and supportive and
(37:23):
present, when he's a very, verycalm, cool, collective, present
person and very intelligent.
And not a lot of my dad rubbedoff on me.
Unfortunately, all the good thatmy dad has, I didn't get most
(37:46):
of it and a lot of it's from mymom, and I'm definitely a very
challenging person to be aroundat times if I'm not real happy
and I'm not doing what I want tobe doing, and a lot of that
comes from my mom.
Yeah, and my dad always saysstink before you talk.
(38:12):
And my mom never thinks beforeshe talks and I kind of go
towards my mom more.
The one thing I remember dadalways saying yeah, he he's in
Florida now and he's not doingthat.
Well, he's him Got a stroke, sohe still cruise him, but not
nothing like he was Definitelydeteriorating sad.
(38:36):
Yeah, yeah, you have nothing.
My dad was awesome.
Yeah, I just have a lot of good, amazing memories and I wish I
was more like him actually.
Yeah, more, and rubbed off onme.
I don't have regrets, but itwould have been nice by me was
around him more.
I would have got more of him,sure.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear he'snot doing well.
I think that's.
It's hard to see our parentsget older and go through health
struggles.
My dad had a heart attackrelatively young and I was sort
of like a shock to the system.
So I definitely definitely feelyou on the.
You know the parents growingolder and dealing with health
stuff.
But you know, I think it's itsounds between you know your dad
(39:15):
, and their presence and theircalmness.
It sounds like you do have somegreat models, at least of Folks
to help work on the, thepractice of being more presence.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
For my mom.
She was, you know.
She gave us a lot of freedom.
Freedom pretty much shaped us,made it to where we had to make
our own way in this world.
We had the we had to for lackof a better word fight for what
we wanted, or scrap, or we hadto figure it out.
We had to make it happen.
We had to align with the rightpeople.
We had to do the right things.
We had to focus.
(39:45):
We had to be focused.
We had, we had to make ithappen or nothing was gonna
happen.
And Without that freedom andwithout that lack of what we
wanted and what we thought weneeded, or we pretty much have
what we needed, but wedefinitely didn't have what we
wanted.
And if we wanted something, wehad to get.
(40:06):
We had to make it happen.
We had to, we had to get itsomehow.
And that was all from mom, andshe moved us to Hawaii where
Everything fell in place and allof our dreams came true.
So mom's amazing in that aspect, it's just very unconventional,
very different.
Yeah, very interesting.
Yes, oh, I just gave them toGod.
(40:30):
I left it all up to God.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
You're like mom.
If God gave us waves, then Ibelieve in God, so that's,
that's my connection.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
I'm underwater getting bounded, even, probably
still today, I don't know.
Please, god, help me?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I don't.
We're talking to the papaya orthe toaster poster.
Please help me toaster.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Oh God Amazing well, garrett, I really appreciate
your time, man.
I'm so excited for for all thethe different areas we got to
cover today.
And I'm just curious, like onelast thing you know what, what
are you working on now, what?
What's next in terms of?
I know you're, you're doing alot for the environment, like,
what kind of projects are yougetting into that that you know
(41:15):
our top of mind for you outsideof serving and dad life?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Well, we're always working on being plastic, single
use plastic free, which issuper challenging, but we would
do work on it.
We really work on it.
In a perfect world, my perfectself, never will use single use
pop plastic.
I would say out of a thousandbottles of water, maybe one is a
(41:39):
plastic bottle, randomly, whenthere's no water and you just
got to drink some water, or ifyou're in the third-world
country and there's no way toget clean drinking water and you
didn't do take the time to getglass bottles.
We have a foundation set up, theMcNamara Foundation, waves of
life, where we take childrensurfing, underprivileged
children.
Here in Portugal, the up atopof the lighthouse, there's a
(42:03):
boys home where there's fosterchildren and refugees and
there's probably like from 20 to40 of them all year long and we
take them surfing or hiking orsomething in nature once a week
to one, for, you know, copingskills and and mainly, sharing
(42:26):
the Mother nature with them inone way or another, preferably
surf therapy, getting them tofall in love with the word.
How can we expect them to evencare or want to nurture or, you
know, care about the environmentwithout without being in love
with it?
And and I share with them mystory from the beginning, like
(42:48):
when I had nothing and andactually was eating out of trash
cans when I was like five, witha cult called the Christ family
and and so I share that storywith them.
And then so we have, they werewhoa, this guy had a pretty
artist beginning maybe harderthan we do actually.
And so then I share with themthat everything's possible, it
(43:10):
doesn't matter where we comefrom, and and I try to inspire
them to go after their goals andwrite down what they love doing
and write down how to make thattheir career and and that works
really well, and we, we bondand we do some goal setting and
and then we see where they arethe year and a few years later.
(43:30):
Sometimes we even write thethings down and bury it and we
go dig it back up.
Um, then Hawaii superchallenging, we have right where
I learned how to surf.
There's a.
There's a home there for sextraffic teens the rehab center
(43:52):
in the United States.
There's Hundreds of thousandsof sex traffic teens.
There's only six.
Uh, is it six hundred?
I think six hundred beds inrehabs facilities out six
hundred beds in the UnitedStates in the rehab facilities,
30 of them are on the NorthShore of Hawaii, where I learned
(44:14):
how to surf, so we just surftherapy with them.
It's, it's crazy.
It's these girls have neverknown a man that they can trust.
They don't have any.
They see men, they run, theyhide, they scared, they're
scared and it's, it's crazy.
And we're working with them tobe able to cope and live in in
(44:36):
normal, a normal life in society.
And it's who sense real.
It's, yeah, it's challenging.
It's yeah, it's sad, it's heavy.
So we do that with thefoundation as well.
We're working with the Pathwatercompany and they have reusable
(44:57):
aluminum cans.
So the biggest challenge withthe water bottles of plastic
water is that Everybody buysthem and they throw them and end
up in the rivers or in thelandfills and they're gonna be
there forever and they'll end upin the bottom of the ocean and
end up just in.
It's terrible what's going onwith the plastic bottle, but
(45:18):
there's no solution unless youhave refills Stations everywhere
.
So, right, I mean, my biggestthing is every business in the
world, by law, should have tohave a refill station at their
Place of work, at their business, for everybody who shows up to
refill.
And Then the path has alreadygot the water bottles, they're
(45:43):
everywhere.
You get them.
You can reuse them for alifetime, or you can, at least
you're gonna reuse them once ortwice, if not 10, 20, 30 times.
But then it's aluminum, so youcan recycle as well, and it's
not plastic, it's gonna end up,it's aluminum.
So, yeah, we just started, wealigned with this company called
(46:04):
spot insurance, which isAmazing.
Anywhere you go, I think in theworld, you can get not a ski
lift, I want insurance.
I'm going up a lift right now.
Okay, if you nice, insurance,all the car, what else?
Oh, I want to show my board.
Oh, I want to show my jet ski.
Oh, there's that.
(46:25):
The other thing.
It's like Uber of insurance orInsurance all a cart for a very
small amount as you're going todo the activity.
It's right, yeah, I love thatyeah, but insurance.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
That's so smart.
Yeah, you see the conditionsand you're like I need insurance
for this.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
That's awesome and you can get a bunch of other
things on the, on the, at thatsame moment.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Whether it's your body or board Colleges, I don't
know yeah some sort ofrecognition?
Yeah, yeah don't quote me onthat, but I think you can
actually do that.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Yeah, folks, you go to the website and get the full
list.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, and then you know,mercedes has always been an
amazing supporter of us andthey're going fully electric, so
we've been very fortunate thatthey support our projects and
we've been working with them fora long time.
And then, yeah, we've beenhaving a lot of fun with a lot
of the companies.
(47:26):
It's really really.
The HBO has been incredible.
Portugal incredible the world,the whole world.
It's just been so incrediblethe way that everybody's
enjoying the series and all.
I mean I don't feel like anydifferent than anybody else.
(47:50):
I don't feel like I'm aninspiring person, but people are
getting inspired and that wasthe goal, like my wife's.
Like we're not doing thisunless we can spread some good
messages and hopefully inspiresome people, and so, I don't
know, somehow it's working andeverybody's loving it and
everybody's sending usincredible, beautiful
(48:11):
heart-to-heart messages thatreally inspire me to continue
this journey and do our best todo things in a good way.
You know it's mostly my wife.
My wife is my biggest influenceand I'm so lucky that I have
heard my life and that she'ssuch a selfless, amazing human
that doesn't stop in a good wayfor the world, for everything
(48:38):
she represents.
She's here for the world.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah, man, I don't know where I'd be without my
wife.
I hear you 100% in so many wayswhere you know, especially when
it comes to the kids and makingsure that we're focused on the
right values, focused on all thethings that they need, but also
just like making sure that ourfamily is trying to go out into
the world and make it better andbe good people and be that
(49:02):
positive influence.
So, yeah, I hear you Wives areso great at keeping us in check
but allowing us to go out and doamazing things out in the world
when we leave the house.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
So but I honestly think if they were running the
world, it would be a much betterplace.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
Oh yeah absolutely Well, Garrett, I got to say
thank you again.
So much for your time.
I can hear the sounds of joyand chaos, so I'll let you get
back to it, but I reallyappreciate you taking time to
chat today All right.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Thank you so much for your patience and your
understanding on everything.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
This has been an episode of the Athlete Dad
Podcast.
As always, we'd really loveyour support in helping to get
this podcast out into the world.
You can do that by sharing itwith somebody you care about,
who you think would reallyappreciate the content of what
we talk about.
You can also like and review onall podcast platforms, so go
give us some love.
It's much appreciated and itcertainly helps us out keeping
(50:08):
the show going.
It's also important that yougive us a follow on Instagram.
At theathletedad, you can getall the access to all the
pictures and content and morefrom the podcast that we talk
about and, of course, I'm avisual person, so I love what we
get to share on Instagram andit keeps you up to date on all
the things happening with thepodcast.
(50:28):
So go give us a follow onInstagram and actually all other
socials at theathletedad.
If you want exclusive access tocontent that we do not share
publicly on the podcast orsocials themselves, you're going
to want to sign up for ouremail list.
Go to theathletedadcom.
Sign up for the email list,become one of our exclusive
(50:48):
subscribers and you'll getaccess to things like more bonus
episodes, deeper dives, othercontent that we just don't
release to the public Thingsthat I think, if you really
enjoy this topic, you're goingto love, because we just get
much more into the weeds on allof these things.
So go to theathletedadcom, signup for our email list and grab
yourself some of that exclusivecontent.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.